It is not a dramatic monument. At 0.91 metres tall, rectangular in plan and cross-section, and measuring just 0.62 metres by 0.24 metres at its base, it would be easy to walk past without a second glance. Yet its placement on a level terrace in the Kerry hills suggests this was a deliberate choice by whoever set it here, likely in prehistory, with an eye for the landscape spread out below.

Standing stones are among the most common and least understood prehistoric monuments in Ireland. They occur singly or in alignments, and their original purposes remain genuinely unclear; theories range from burial markers and boundary indicators to astronomical alignments and assembly points. This particular example in Derrylough carries its northeast-southwest orientation as perhaps its most legible feature, a line that may or may not have held significance to those who raised it. The views from the terrace, across the bay and toward the lakes, suggest the site was not chosen carelessly, even if the reasoning behind it is now irretrievable.